Report: The Human Trafficking Of Domestic Workers In The United States

A new report establishes that domestic workers experience labor conditions that are often indicators of the most extreme form of labor exploitation – human trafficking.

Sameera Hafiz
Michael Paarlberg
By Sameera Hafiz
And Michael Paarlberg
A 16-year-old worker harvests tobacco on a farm in Kentucky. Marcus Beasdale | Human Rights Watch

Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency of the United States on January 20, 2017, we have witnessed daily news reports of immigrant communities and communities of color being criminalized and targeted by his agents. In the current climate, we anticipate that the labor rights protecting survivors will only deteriorate. Employers seeking to prey

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Texas Couldn’t Help This Sex-Trafficked Teen, So Authorities Sent Her To Jail

No one wanted Lena behind bars. She was not a prostitute; she was a child who had been sexually exploited. But teenage sex-trafficking victims in Texas end up in jail for one simple reason: There’s nowhere else for them to go.

Neena Satija
Morgan Smith
Edgar Walters
By Neena Satija
And Morgan Smith
And Edgar Walters
17-year-old Lena waits to be released from the Harris County Jail, with a small bag of her possessions. Her mentor gave her a blue jumpsuit to wear over her skimpy clothes. (Photo: Callie Richmond/The Texas Tribune)

HOUSTON (REPORT) — For three months in the fall of 2016, Lena was one of the youngest inmates in the Harris County Jail. The 17-year-old lived with two dozen women in a single room. She slept on a metal bunk and wore an oversized orange jumpsuit every day. She went to the bathroom with no privacy, using a toilet attached to the wall. Yet compared

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Houston’s Hosting The Super Bowl & A Growing Human Trafficking Industry

Human trafficking gets a lot of buzz around the Super Bowl, as officials and reporters warn about a spike in prostitution. But there’s little data to support this, and those fighting human trafficking warn that it distracts from the issue plaguing cities year-round.

Derrick Broze
By Derrick Broze

HOUSTON --- (INVESTIGATION)  On Sunday Feb. 5, the Super Bowl arrives in Houston, a city plagued by a growing human trafficking industry that puts children and women at risk for physical violence and psychological abuse. In 2011, when he was serving as the state’s attorney general and the big game was being held in Dallas, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

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Trial Begins In Major Trafficking Case Stemming From Hurricane Katrina Clean-up

A series of lawsuits brought by dozens of South Asian workers against an American marine-services company could have major implications across the U.S. immigration system. Experts say they collectively entail one of the largest human trafficking cases in U.S. history.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Hurricane Katrina

In this Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005 file photo, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit, flood-waters still covers parts of New Orleans. Photo: David J. Phillip/AP WASHINGTON --- The first in a series of lawsuits got underway earlier this month in what supporters say collectively entail one of the largest cases of human trafficking ever

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North Dakota Asks Nation For Help In Human Trafficking Epidemic

North Dakota’s male-dominated oil fields have created huge demand for sex workers. This demand has led to a human trafficking epidemic that the state can’t remedy on its own.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke
Bakken sign

It’s an unfortunate reality seen throughout the world: where there are men and money, there are prostitutes. And where there are prostitutes, there are victims of human trafficking. Not all individuals selling sex choose to do so willingly -- some reports estimate that about 70 percent of “prostitutes” are actually human trafficking victims.

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NY State Reconsiders Condoms-As-Evidence Approach

In what would be a boon to public health and safe sex advocacy, New York mulls removing condoms from the list of circumstantial evidence that can be used in a prostitution conviction.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese

In 2007, then-Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer signed into law human trafficking legislation meant to undercut the demand for prostitution. The law elevated patronizing prostitutes from a Class B misdemeanor, which can carry a maximum of three months incarceration and a $500 fine, to a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum of one year in

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